Cytokine production by mouse myeloid dendritic cells in relation to differentiation and terminal maturation induced by lipopolysaccharide or CD40 ligation.

Although it is known that dendritic cells (DCs) produce cytokines, there is little information about how cytokine synthesis is regulated during DC development. A range of cytokine mRNA/proteins was analyzed in immature (CD86-) or mature (CD86+) murine bone marrow (BM)- derived DCs. Highly purified, flow-sorted, immature DCs exhibited higher amounts of interleukin-1alpha (IL-1alpha), IL-1beta, tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-alpha), transforming growth factor beta1 (TGF-beta1), and macrophage migration inhibitory factor (MIF) mRNA/protein than mature DCs. After differentiation, DC up-regulated the levels of IL-6 and IL-15 mRNA/protein and synthesized de novo mRNA/protein for IL-12p35, IL-12p40, and IL-18. Although immature BM-derived DCs did not stimulate naive allogeneic T cells, mature DCs elicited a mixed population of T helper (Th) 1 (mainly) and Th2 cells in 3d-mixed leukocyte reactions. CD86+ BM DCs switched to different cytokine patterns according to whether they were terminally differentiated by lipopolysaccharide (LPS) or CD40 ligation. Although both stimuli increased IL-6, IL-12p40, IL-15, and TNF-alpha mRNA/protein levels, only LPS up-regulated transcription of IL-1alpha, IL-1beta, IL-12p35, and MIF genes. Although LPS and CD40 cross-linking increased the T-cell allostimulatory function of BM DCs, only LPS stimulation shifted the balance of naive Th differentiation to Th1 cells, a mechanism dependent on the up-regulation of IL-12p35 and not of IL-23. These results demonstrate that, depending on the stimuli used to terminally mature BM DCs, DCs synthesize a different pattern of cytokines and exhibit distinct Th cell-driving potential.

Aspirin inhibits in vitro maturation and in vivo immunostimulatory function of murine myeloid dendritic cells.

Aspirin is the most commonly used analgesic and antiinflammatory agent. In this study, at physiological concentrations, it profoundly inhibited CD40, CD80, CD86, and MHC class II expression on murine, GM-CSF + IL-4 stimulated, bone marrow-derived myeloid dendritic cells (DC). CD11c and MHC class I expression were unaffected. The inhibitory action was dose dependent and was evident at concentrations higher than those necessary to inhibit PG synthesis. Experiments with indomethacin revealed that the effects of aspirin on DC maturation were cyclooxygenase independent. Nuclear extracts of purified, aspirin-treated DC revealed a decreased NF-kappaB DNA-binding activity, whereas Ab supershift analysis indicated that aspirin targeted primarily NF-kappaB p50. Unexpectedly, aspirin promoted the generation of CD11c+ DC, due to apparent suppression of granulocyte development. The morphological and ultrastructural appearance of aspirin-treated cells was consistent with immaturity. Aspirin-treated DC were highly efficient at Ag capture, via both mannose receptor-mediated endocytosis and macropinocytosis. By contrast, they were poor stimulators of naive allogeneic T cell proliferation and induced lower levels of IL-2 in responding T cells. They also exhibited impaired IL-12 expression and did not produce IL-10 after LPS stimulation. Assessment of the in vivo function of aspirin-treated DC, pulsed with the hapten trinitrobenzenesulfonic acid, revealed an inability to induce normal cell-mediated contact hypersensitivity, despite the ability of the cells to migrate to T cell areas of draining lymphoid tissue. These data provide new insight into the immunopharmacology of aspirin and suggest a novel approach to the manipulation of DC for therapeutic application.

Direct transfection and activation of human cutaneous dendritic cells.

Gene therapy techniques can be important tools for the induction and control of immune responses. Antigen delivery is a critical challenge in vaccine design, and DNA-based immunization offers an attractive method to deliver encoded transgenic protein antigens. In the present study, we used a gene gun to transfect human skin organ cultures with a particular goal of expressing transgenic antigens in resident cutaneous dendritic cells. Our studies demonstrate that when delivered to human skin, gold particles are observed primarily in the epidermis, even when high helium delivery pressures are used. We demonstrate that Langerhans cells resident in the basal epidermis can be transfected, and that biolistic gene delivery is sufficient to stimulate the activation and migration of skin dendritic cells. RT-PCR analysis of dendritic cells, which have migrated from transfected skin, demonstrates the presence of transgenic mRNA, indicating direct transfection of cutaneous dendritic cells. Importantly, transfected epidermal Langerhans cells can efficiently present a peptide derived from the transgenic melanoma antigen MART-1 to a MART-1-specific CTL. Taken together, our results demonstrate direct transfection, activation, and antigen-specific stimulatory function of in situ transduced human Langerhans cells.

Cell-type-specific and regulatable transgenesis in the adult brain: adenovirus-encoded combined transcriptional targeting and inducible transgene expression.

To achieve transient transgenesis within specific areas or cell populations in the adult central nervous system (CNS), we have developed a dual adenoviral vector system encoding for cell-type-specific and regulatable transcription units. To achieve combined cell-type-specific transcriptional targeting and inducible expression, we have engineered the expression of the tetracycline-dependent transcriptional elements (1) to be under the transcriptional control of either the astrocyte-specific, glial fibrillary acidic protein (GFAP) (2) or the neuronal specific enolase (NSE) promoter (3) within a dual adenoviral vector system. Cell-type specificity, inducibility, and levels of transgene expression were characterized in vitro in cell lines, and primary neocortical cultures and in the central nervous system (CNS) in vivo, and compared to a powerful pancellular beta-actin/CMV promoter. We demonstrate that the GFAP promoter is able to restrict tetracycline-dependent transgene expression to glial cells in cell lines, primary cultures, and in the CNS in vivo. However, although the NSE promoter did not show neuronal restricted transgene expression in vitro, it did so in the CNS in vivo. Our dual viral system also has provided evidence that an excess of transactivator is needed to achieve maximal transgene expression. Administration of doxycycline completely abrogated transgene expression both in vitro and in vivo. Consequently, our strategy demonstrates that combined cell-type specificity and simultaneous regulation of transgene expression can be obtained in the brain using adenoviral vectors.

Recombinant adenovirus induces maturation of dendritic cells via an NF-kappaB-dependent pathway.

Recombinant adenovirus (rAd) infection is one of the most effective and frequently employed methods to transduce dendritic cells (DC). Contradictory results have been reported recently concerning the influence of rAd on the differentiation and activation of DC. In this report, we show that, as a result of rAd infection, mouse bone marrow-derived immature DC upregulate expression of major histocompatibility complex class I and II antigens, costimulatory molecules (CD40, CD80, and CD86), and the adhesion molecule CD54 (ICAM-1). rAd-transduced DC exhibited increased allostimulatory capacity and levels of interleukin-6 (IL-6), IL-12p40, IL-15, gamma interferon, and tumor necrosis factor alpha mRNAs, without effects on other immunoregulatory cytokine transcripts such as IL-10 or IL-12p35. These effects were not related to specific transgenic sequences or to rAd genome transcription. The rAd effect correlated with a rapid increase (1 h) in the NF-kappaB-DNA binding activity detected by electrophoretic mobility shift assays. rAd-induced DC maturation was blocked by the proteasome inhibitor Nalpha-p-tosyl-L-lysine chloromethyl ketone (TLCK) or by infection with rAd-IkappaB, an rAd-encoding the dominant-negative form of IkappaB. In vivo studies showed that after intravenous administration, rAds were rapidly entrapped in the spleen by marginal zone DC that mobilized to T-cell areas, a phenomenon suggesting that rAd also induced DC differentiation in vivo. These findings may explain the immunogenicity of rAd and the difficulties in inducing long-term antigen-specific T-cell hyporesponsiveness with rAd-transduced DC.

Fas ligand-transfected myoblasts and islet cell transplantation.

BACKGROUND: Expression of Fas ligand (FasL, CD95L) within the local environment of an allograft may protect from rejection by inducing apoptosis of infiltrating T cells. However, there is mounting evidence that ectopic expression of FasL stimulates an inflammatory response and targets the FasL-expressing tissue for destruction. Given the potential therapeutic applicability of FasL-based immune protection, we sought to determine whether ectopic FasL expression was detrimental and to analyze the inflammatory response induced by ectopic FasL expression in the absence of any confounding allo-immune responses. METHODS AND RESULTS: Two myoblast cell lines expressing different levels of functional FasL were produced. Co-implantation of FasL-expressing myoblasts with syngeneic islets allowed examination of the inflammatory response induced by ectopic FasL expression. In contrast to the suggested benefits of localized FasL expression, islets co-implanted with FasL-expressing myoblasts were destroyed in a vigorous inflammatory response predominated by neutrophils. Interestingly, FasL expression also had a marked anti-tumor effect. CONCLUSIONS: Unless FasL-dependent neutrophil-mediated inflammation can be prevented, it is unlikely that this strategy will be useful for preventing allograft rejection.

Adenovirus-mediated herpes simplex virus type-1 thymidine kinase gene therapy suppresses oestrogen-induced pituitary prolactinomas.

We tested the hypothesis that gene transfer using recombinant adenovirus vectors (RAds) expressing herpes simplex virus type 1 thymidine kinase (HSV1-TK) might offer an alternative therapeutic approach for the treatment of pituitary prolactinomas that do not respond to classical treatment strategies. HSV1-TK converts the prodrug ganciclovir (GCV) to GCV monophosphate, which is in turn further phosphorylated by cellular kinases to GCV triphosphate, which is toxic to proliferating cells. One attractive feature of this system is the bystander effect, whereby untransduced cells are also killed. Our results show that RAd/HSV1-TK in the presence of GCV is nontoxic for the normal anterior pituitary (AP) gland in vitro, but causes cell death in the pituitary tumor cell lines GH3, a PRL/GH-secreting cell line, and AtT20, a corticotrophic cell line. We have used sulpiride- and oestrogen-induced lactotroph hyperplasia within the rat AP gland as an in vivo animal model. Intrapituitary infection of rats bearing oestrogen-induced lactotroph hyperplasia, with RAd/ HSV1-TK and subsequent treatment with GCV, decreases plasma PRL levels and reduces the mass of the pituitary gland. More so, there were no deleterious effects on circulating levels of other AP hormones, suggesting that the treatment was nontoxic to the AP gland in situ. In summary, our results show that suicide gene therapy using the HSV1-TK transgene could be further developed as a useful treatment to complement current therapies for prolactinomas.

Neuronal and glial cell type-specific promoters within adenovirus recombinants restrict the expression of the apoptosis-inducing molecule Fas ligand to predetermined brain cell types, and abolish peripheral liver toxicity.

Gene therapy using Fas ligand (FasL) for treatment of tumours and protection of transplant rejection is hampered because of the systemic toxicity of FasL. In the present study, recombinant replication-defective adenovirus vectors (RAds) encoding FasL under the control of either the neuronal-specific neuronal-specific enolase (NSE) promoter or the astrocyte-specific glial fibrillary acidic protein (GFAP) promoter have been constructed. The cell type-specific expression of FasL in both neurons and glial cells in primary cultures, and in neuronal and glial cell lines is demonstrated. Furthermore, transgene expression driven by the neuronal and glial promoter was not detected in fibroblastic or epithelial cell lines. Expression of FasL driven by a major immediate early human cytomegalovirus promoter (MIEhCMV) was, however, achieved in all cells tested. As a final test of the stringency of transgene-specific expression, the RAds were injected directly into the bloodstream of mice. The RAds encoding FasL under the control of the non-cell type-specific MIEhCMV promoter induced acute generalized liver haemorrhage with hepatocyte apoptosis, while the RAds containing the NSE or GFAP promoter sequences were completely non-toxic. This demonstrates the specificity of transgene expression, enhanced safety during systemic administration, and tightly regulated control of transgene expression of highly cytotoxic gene products, encoded within transcriptionally targeted RAds.

Adenoviruses encoding HPRT correct biochemical abnormalities of HPRT-deficient cells and allow their survival in negative selection medium.

The Lesch-Nyhan syndrome is an X-linked disorder caused by a virtually complete absence of the key enzyme of purine recycling, hypoxanthine-guanine phosphoribosyltransferase (HPRT). It is characterized by uric acid overproduction and severe neurological dysfunction. No treatment is yet available for the latter symptoms. A possible long-term solution is gene therapy, and recombinant adenoviruses have been proposed as vectors for gene transfer into postmitotic neuronal cells. We have constructed an adenoviral vector expressing the human HPRT cDNA under the transcriptional control of a short human cytomegalovirus major immediate early promoter (RAd-HPRT). Here we show that infection of human 1306, HPRT-negative cells with RAd-HPRT, expressed high enough levels of HPRT enzyme activity, as to reverse their abnormal biochemical phenotype, thus enhancing hypoxanthine incorporation and restoring purine recycling, increasing GTP levels, decreasing adenine incorporation, and allowing cell survival in HAT medium in which only cells expressing high levels of HPRT can survive. Infection of murine STO cells, increased hypoxanthine incorporation and restored purine recycling, thus allowing cell survival in HAT medium, and reduced de novo purine synthesis. Although both cells were able to survive in HAT medium post infection with RAd-HPRT, some of the biochemical consequences differed. In summary, even though adenoviral vectors do not integrate into the genome of target HPRT-deficient human or murine cells, RAd-HPRT mediated enzyme replacement corrects abnormal purine metabolism, increases intracellular GTP levels, and allows cells to survive in a negative selection medium.

FasL induces Fas/Apo1-mediated apoptosis in human embryonic kidney 293 cells routinely used to generate E1-deleted adenoviral vectors.

Human embryonic kidney 293 cells contain the E1 region of adenovirus type 5, and thus sustain, through transcomplementation, the production of recombinant E1-deleted adenovirus vectors. During attempts to produce recombinant adenovirus expressing the apoptosis-inducing molecule Fas ligand (FasL) under the control of a very strong truncated major immediate-early human cytomegalovirus (MIEhCMV) promoter, we discovered that 293 cells were not surviving the initial cotransfection with a shuttle plasmid encoding the mouse FasL; and pJM17, a plasmid containing the genome of adenovirus type 5 with deletions in the E1-E3 regions, in an unpackagable form. Investigation of the reason for massive cell death after cotransfection led us to determine that 293 cells express the FasL receptor. Fas-Apo1 (CD95), and respond with apoptosis to the cross-linking of Fas-Apo1 with either IgM monoclonal antibodies or FasL. Therefore, we decided to generate adenoviral vectors expressing FasL, under the control of tissue-specific and/or-inducible promoter elements. Our findings can explain difficulties several groups have had in generating recombinant adenoviral vectors expressing FasL using 293 cells, as well as the lower titres reported.

Pattern of cytokine receptors expressed by human dendritic cells migrated from dermal explants.

Different reasons account for the lack of information about the expression of cytokine receptors on human dendritic cells (DC): (a) DC are a trace population; (b) the proteolytic treatment used to isolate DC may alter enzyme-sensitive epitopes; and (c) low numbers of receptors per cell. In the present work the expression of cytokine receptors was analysed by flow cytometry on the population of dermal DC (DDC) that spontaneously migrate from short-term culture dermal explants. DDC obtained after dermal culture were CD1alow, CD1b+, CD1c+, human leucocyte antigen (HLA)-DR+, CD11chigh, CD11b+ and CD32+. The DC lineage was confirmed by ultrastructural analysis. DDC expressed interleukin (IL)-1R type 1 (monoclonal antibody (mAb) hIL-1R1-M1; and 6B5); IL-1R type 2 (mAb hIL-1R2-M22); IL-2R alpha chain (mAb anti-Tac; and hIL-2R-M1) and IL-2R gamma chain (mAb 3B5; and AG14C). DDC did not stain for IL-2R beta chain using four mAbs recognizing two different epitopes of IL-2R beta (mAb 2R-B; Mik-beta 1; and CF1; Mik-beta 3, respectively). DDC were also positive for the cytokine binding chains (alpha chains) of IL-3R (mAb 9F5); IL-4R (mAb hIL-4R-M57; and S456C9); and IL-7R (mAb hIL-7R-M20; and R3434). DDC showed low levels of IL-6R alpha chain (mAb B-F19; B-R6; and B-E23) and its signal transducer gp130 (mAb A2; and B1). DDC strongly expressed interferon-gamma receptor (IFN-gamma R) (mAb GIR-208) and were negative for IL-8R (mAb B-G20; and B-F25). All DDC were highly positive for granulocyte-macrophage colony-stimulating factor receptor (GM-CSFR) alpha chain (mAb hGM-CSFR-M1; SC06; SC04, and 8G6) and to a lesser extent for the common beta chain of GM-CSFR, IL-3R and IL-5R (mAb 3D7). On the other hand, reactivity was not found for granulocyte colony-stimulating factor receptor (G-CSFR) (mAb hGCSFR-M1) nor macrophage colony-stimulating factor receptor (M-CSFR) (mAb 7-7A3-17) confirming the DC lineage of DDC. As previously reported for lymphoid DC, DDC expressed tumour necrosis factor receptort (TNFR) 75000 MW (mAb utr-1; hTNFR-M1; and MR2-1) but lacked TNFR 55000 MW (mAb htr-9; MR1-1; and MR1-2). In summary, DDC express receptors for a broad panel of cytokines, even receptors for cytokines whose effects on DC are still unknown (i.e. IL-2R alpha gamma; IL-6R alpha/gp 130; IL-7R alpha gamma).

Gene transfer into enteric neurons of the rat small intestine in organ culture using a replication defective recombinant herpes simplex virus type 1 (HSV1) vector, but not recombinant adenovirus vectors.

We have designed a system in which to test gene transfer into gut neurons consisting of an organ culture of neonatal rat small intestine. The tissue was exposed to herpes simplex- and adenovirus-derived vectors: (1) a temperature-sensitive herpes simplex virus-1 (HSV1) vector (tsK-beta gal) containing the lacZ gene encoding beta-galactosidase (beta-gal), under the transcriptional control of the HSV1 immediate-early 3 (IE3) promoter; (2) RAd35, an E1-/E3- replication-deficient adenovirus expressing lacZ under the control of a truncated HCMV major IE promoter; and (3) RAd122, an E1-/E3- replication-deficient adenovirus expressing the lacZ under the control of the RSV LTR. Forty-eight hours after the vector was added to the organ culture, we detected beta-gal using immunohistochemistry or X-gal histochemistry in tissue sections examined by light microscopy. We encountered a distinctive staining of cells arranged in two concentric circles corresponding in location to the myenteric and submucosal plexuses. Cells in these areas were of similar size and morphology to neonatal enteric neurons, as visualized by NADPH-diaphorase histochemistry and immunocytochemical staining with antibodies to the neuronally expressed proteins PGP 9.5, or neurofilaments. Double labelling with antibodies recognizing neurofilaments and beta-galactosidase revealed that most cells infected by tsK were neurons, while the RAd35 and 122 vectors only infected non-neuronal cells. We thus demonstrate that both HSV1- and adenovirus-derived vectors can be used to transfer genes to the gut in vitro, but they transduce different populations of target cells.